LANSING — The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation will appeal the
case of Loar v. DHS to the Michigan
Supreme Court, according to Director Patrick Wright. Wright and his clients,
home-based day care owners Sherry Loar of
Petoskey, Michelle Berry of Flint and Paulette Silverson of Brighton, will
discuss the case at a press conference Wednesday at 9 a.m. outside the
Hall of Justice in Lansing.

The public-interest
law firm brought suit against the Michigan Department of Human Services in
September on behalf of home-based day care providers who were forced into a
government employees union and had dues withheld from state subsidy payments
provided to low-income families. In late December, the Michigan Court of Appeals dismissed
the case without explanation.

At least 40,000
home-based business owners and millions of dollars were affected by the
DHS/union effort to designate the providers as government workers for
unionization and dues-collecting purposes. The MCLF is suing to prevent the DHS
from collecting dues from the providers. The brief will be submitted to the
Michigan Supreme Court Wednesday morning.